Page 4A
OPINION
East Oregonian
Saturday, May 14, 2016
Founded October 16, 1875
KATHRYN B. BROWN
DANIEL WATTENBURGER
Publisher
Managing Editor
JENNINE PERKINSON
TIM TRAINOR
Advertising Director
Opinion Page Editor
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MIKE FORRESTER
STEVE FORRESTER
KATHRYN B. BROWN
Pendleton
Chairman of the Board
Astoria
President
Pendleton
Secretary/Treasurer
CORY BOLLINGER
JEFF ROGERS
Aberdeen, S.D.
Director
Indianapolis, Ind.
Director
OUR VIEW
Allow EOCI
prisoners to work
Hillary and Bernie together
in Pendleton
B
OTHER VIEWS
In the 1980s, when Oregon
goodwill for the civilization they
will soon rejoin.
changed a state facility in the heart
And yes, there is some danger.
of Pendleton from a hospital to a
But the responsibility for safety
prison, it came with stipulations.
One was that prisoners would not and security rests solely with the
prison and its administration — a
leave the grounds. Pendletonians
mantle they are willing to assume. It
were rightfully nervous about
is up to them to chose inmates who
thousands of felons taking up
do not have a history of violence and
residence in city limits, and they
attempted escape, who are respectful
wanted to be sure the prison’s walls
and hard workers. People who can
were high and its barbed wire was
be counted on to treat time outside
sharp.
of prison walls as a grateful break
Residents were also nervous
— and be on their best behavior in
about becoming a “prison town,”
order to earn future
where the high walls
and barbed wire and
“We have a breaks.
Anyone who has
shackled work crews
stepped
EOCI
could make Pendleton
lot to offer the for a day inside
is shocked
look less safe, lively
and free.
city and the by the demographics
of the people they see.
And that’s the way
it has been for decades.
surrounding This is not prison as it
appears in television
In 1987, the city of
area.” and movies, with
Pendleton put what
had been a verbal
— Jeri Taylor, yards and cells illed
understanding into
EOCI superintendent, with the tattooed and
writing. The council
on inmates working over-muscled and
and EOCI agreed that
in the city of Pendleton angry.
Those kinds
no inmates from the
of prisoners exist
prison would work
at EOCI, of course. But a large
within city limits, and that ban has
percentage of those incarcerated
remained for almost 30 years.
But desire for change has arrived. there have gray hair, shufle slowly
in sweats, and work small jobs to
EOCI superintendent Jeri Taylor
keep the place clean and pass the
told city council that allowing their
time. Those are people we can use
prisoners to work in the city — like
to pick up litter, keep Pendleton
Two Rivers Correctional Institution
and Umatilla County already can — parks and streets clean, ill potholes,
reduce government budgets, provide
will be good for both the prison and
skilled labor, etc. The possibilities
for Pendleton.
are numerous.
“We have a lot to offer the city
Rules and regulations must
and the surrounding area,” Taylor
be clear. The work must have
told the council last month. “We
think that our inmates are pretty well community beneit, and it cannot
harm existing and operating
received around the state.”
businesses. It has to be done
We agree, and are supportive of
aboveboard and with transparency.
lifting the ban.
There can be little tolerance for
The city and its residents,
businesses and nonproits have much prisoners who don’t obey the rules.
But if the city and the prison work
to beneit from EOCI prison crews.
Especially in a town like Pendleton, to set those rules, there is no reason
to think that 30 years is enough time
the heart of which pumps with the
for people to change their minds.
power of volunteers, an infusion of
Clearly, city council will get some
labor could reinvigorate the city.
pushback from this decision — and
It’s also important for the prisoners
they take on a risk if something does
themselves — the vast majority of
go wrong — but oversight and high
whom will some day be released
expectations can make it a success
back onto the streets. They need
and net beneit.
to feel a sense of ownership and
Unsigned editorials are the opinion of the East Oregonian editorial board of Publisher
Kathryn Brown, Managing Editor Daniel Wattenburger, and Opinion Page Editor Tim Trainor.
Other columns, letters and cartoons on this page express the opinions of the authors and not
necessarily that of the East Oregonian.
ernie Sanders is not going
Feel free to remind her.
away. And why should he? The
They both believe in universal
weather is nice, the crowds
health care coverage. Sanders
are enormous and he keeps winning
wants “Medicare for all.” Clinton’s
campaign says she does, too, in theory,
primaries. Hillary Clinton has what
but just doesn’t believe anything like
appears to be an insurmountable lead
that could get through Congress. This
in delegates, but hope springs eternal.
week she proposed a new option for
“It is a steep hill to climb,” he
Gail
50-somethings that The Times’ Alan
admits.
Collins Rappeport and Margot Sanger-Katz
Actually, probably harder to
Comment
called “Medicare for more.”
surmount than Gangkhar Puensum.
And you know, if Clinton could
(Which is the world’s highest
actually deliver on those two
unclimbed mountain. I am telling
promises, it would be stupendous. This is an
you this to distract you from the subject of
excellent example of the Democratic bottom
delegate counts.)
line: On many, many issues, her platform is
But about Sanders: Democrats, what do
what the Sanders platform would look like if
you think he should do?
it actually got through the
A) Convention loor
congressional wringer.
ight. “Game of Thrones”!
On other matters,
Jon Snow is alive!
the Democrats’ current
B) Go away. When
policy divisions are just
Clinton lost, did she torture
about doubting Clinton’s
Barack Obama over who
intentions. Sanders wants
was going to be on the
to bring back the Glass-
platform committee? No,
Steagall Act, which bars
she sucked it up and gave an
commercial banks from
extremely nice endorsement
going into the investment
speech.
banking business. Clinton
C) Why can’t we all just
says she can crack down on
get along?
Wall Street better with more
Personally, I think
recent legislation. Sanders
that last one is possible.
followers don’t believe she
Although it would probably
means it.
be a good idea to avoid
I say, be impressed
saying a Clinton nomination
that there’s a party full of
could be a “disaster simply
young voters for whom
to protect the status quo,” as
“Glass-Steagall” is a big
Sanders’ campaign manager
applause line. You can’t
did in an email Wednesday.
not want to encourage that.
In an ideal world the
Put Glass-Steagall in the
Democrats would nominate
a presidential candidate who’s got an inspiring platform. Even if Clinton is right, all you’d
have is duplication of effort, and it would be
vision of change and the competence to run
an excellent gesture of solidarity.
the country from Day 1. This person is not
Finally, there’s the inluence of big-money
going to be on the ballot this year. So let
donors on American politics. In theory,
Hillary Clinton have the nomination and give
Sanders and Clinton are pretty much in
Bernie Sanders the party platform.
the same place. But in practice, he’s built
He deserves a role. Sanders has spent the
his entire campaign around the concept of
past year speaking about narrowing the gulf
throwing out special interest money, while
between the rich and the bottom 99 percent,
Clinton’s barely provided lip service.
ighting climate change and keeping special
“One of the four pillars of her campaign
interests out of government. He’s inspired
was going to be democracy issues,” said Fred
millions. It’s pretty much always the same
Wertheimer, president of the reform group
speech, but he’s the one who can bring the
Democracy 21. “Well, the pillars haven’t been
music.
around too much.”
(Question: Will the Republicans have a
Wertheimer had his heart broken by
ight about their platform? Nah — Donald
Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, who both
Trump will let his opponents put in anything
promised to make campaign inance a top
they want. Look, the man has convention
priority, then didn’t. Hillary Clinton, he thinks,
entertainment to plan. Given the option of
ought to promise something more speciic that
choosing the party position on health care or
the dance numbers, you know which way he’s she could implement right away.
“Set up a task force in the White House
going to go.)
whose job it is to pursue this reform. Of top
The Democrats could just make the
staff people,” he suggested.
Sanders speech into a platform, then join
Or a blue-ribbon committee featuring
hands and march into the future. There
Bernie Sanders. Who would certainly never
actually aren’t a lot of areas of disagreement.
let her hear the end of it if she failed to deliver.
Clinton thinks his call for free public college
Put that in the platform and smoke it.
tuition is … well, let’s not say dumb.
■
Dumb is not going to get you a united
Gail Collins joined The New York Times
convention. Let’s just say too much of a good
in 1995 as a member of the editorial board
thing. But she does want free community
and later as an Op-Ed columnist. In 2001 she
college tuition. Did you know that? She
became the irst woman ever appointed editor
announced it on the very irst oficial stop of
of the Times’s editorial page.
her campaign. Since then not, um, frequently.
In an ideal
world,
Democrats
would nominate
a presidential
candidate who’s
got an inspiring
vision of
change, and the
competence to
run the country
from Day 1.
YOUR VIEWS
Transportation meeting not
subject to open meetings law
LETTERS POLICY
The East Oregonian welcomes original letters of 400 words or less on public
issues and public policies for publication in the newspaper and on our website.
The newspaper reserves the right to withhold letters that address concerns
about individual services and products or letters that infringe on the rights of
private citizens. Submitted letters must be signed by the author and include
the city of residence and a daytime phone number. The phone number will not
be published. Unsigned letters will not be published. Send letters to 211 S.E.
Byers Ave. Pendleton, OR 97801 or email editor@eastoregonian.com.
I am writing to correct misconceptions
created by reporting in your paper on
a management review of the Oregon
Department of Transportation.
As chair of the ODOT management review
committee, we are a small working group that
was selected to help engage an independent
third party to examine the management
practices at the Oregon Department of
Transportation.
While this group is serving in an advisory
capacity to the governor, it is not a decision-
making body. Our meetings are, therefore, not
subject to the notice and access requirements
under the Oregon Public Meetings Law nor
has the governor told this group, publicly or
privately, to close or conduct our meetings
in secret. Nevertheless, we have worked
diligently in the spirit of openness to share this
group’s work publicly and will continue to do
so.
Our primary task has been to develop a
proposed scope of work that will be used
to hire an independent contractor to review
ODOT. This proposed scope of work has been
developed with input from legislators and key
stakeholders. This input, along with minutes
from our meeting, is publicly available
Additionally, we will offer a
recommendation to the Department of
Administrative Services on a contractor, but
it is DAS and not this working group that will
decide who will be hired. It should also be
noted that the inal report developed by this
contractor for the governor will also be made
publicly available.
It is unfortunate that your news story
created an illusion of secrecy where it does
not exist. This work group has endeavored to
exceed disclosure requirements because we
believe both in sharing our work product with
policymakers and Oregonians, and because
we believe this review will ultimately be a
tool the governor can use to further strengthen
the work and conidence in our state’s
transportation agency.
Susan Morgan
chair, ODOT Management Review Committee
Roseburg
Editor’s Note: The East Oregonian
stands by our reporting. We are unaware of
any instance in which the review committee
has exceeded the minimum disclosure
requirements required by state law.